An artist’s rendering depicts the current development of a firefighting robot in South Korea. Image courtesy of Rainbow Robotics.
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) — A consortium in South Korea has announced an ambitious plan to develop a cutting-edge four-legged robot that will not only assist in saving individuals from fires but also extinguish flames itself. The project, spearheaded by Rainbow Robotics, will see state-backed agencies, universities, and the German Aerospace Center join forces, with a budget of $13 million allocated over six years.
The collaborative effort aims to create two distinct types of robots: one primarily focused on firefighting and the other designed for locating people trapped in fire emergencies.
“The first robot will specialize in autonomously identifying the origin of the fire and promptly working to suppress it in its initial stages,” shared a representative from Rainbow Robotics in an interview with UPI News Korea.
“The second robot, equipped with advanced cameras and remote control functionality, will primarily serve as a search-and-rescue tool for individuals in need. Once located, human firefighters will take over,” the representative added.
Rainbow Robotics envisions the potential future autonomy of the people-seeking robot as well.
Established in 2011 by Professor Oh Joon-ho and his fellow researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Rainbow Robotics has already made significant strides in the development of bipedal and quadruped robots.
Their bipedal robot, HUBO, gained international recognition in 2015 after winning the DARPA Robotics Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Rainbow Robotics is also actively engaged in a government project focused on creating a quadruped military robot specifically designed for landmine detection.
“We expect to deploy a prototype of our landmine-detecting robot sometime next year,” said Professor Oh in a phone interview. “However, it will still take some time before it can be fully utilized in real-life scenarios.”
Rainbow Robotics boasts Samsung Electronics as one of its major shareholders. This year, Samsung acquired a 14.99% stake in the company for $67 million.
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